anticipating any really large trucks for delivery purposes. So we do not anticipate that would be
an issue once the business is going. So with all that, again, and with the community support,
we're asking for the board's favorable review of this application and permit the use of a
takeout restaurant at this location. My client should be here and would be able to verify my
testimony sure mr john can you raise your hand to be identified
there are no hands raised at the sign um counsel you uh or an officer of the court
we will accept your testimony questions from the board
yeah so you said there will be cooking on on premises right yes okay so how is the
Where is the exhaust vented?
It would be vented out to the roof.
So there is, I'm going to put the plans back up.
Thank you.
Chair, we have a hand raised from Sloan folks.
Sloan, let's get testimony, please.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Chairman.
You're not 6049 Caster, are you?
Yes, I am. But I was waiting for questions or concerns from the community.
So I'll let the applicant complete their testimony.
All right. Yes. So so we do have proposed cooking limited.
It's limited to this side of the kitchen. You can see here there would be a hood system and the hood system.
would be venting out to the roof.
It's going to vent through the building?
It's going to vent through the building, yes.
Because the upstairs is vacant right now,
so they can make all the changes needed
to make this work.
Other questions?
So this breakfast
would be
7 in the morning
until 4 in the afternoon?
3 in the afternoon
is when my client anticipates
he would be basically closing but you know he wants the hours to four because there's cleaning
and closing down that usually takes about an hour to clean the kitchen and make sure everything's
put away um well okay so the concept is sort of like a set place that i go to all the time and i
can't think of the name of it right now uh first watch where it's just breakfast kind of breakfast
some lunch service yes but they have like sit-down service now you know correct maybe it's
maybe it's me but i i'm not sure if i would like breakfast food taken out because it
gets cold so quickly like that's just me um so you're you're not going to have any seating this
is all going to be takeout.
As you saw in the plan,
we originally had two tables
planned with four seats.
It's not anticipated
a lot of people would sit down.
The community actually
did not prefer that.
They wanted to simply keep it
a completely takeout setting
and just ask us to put benches in.
Other questions?
How many and how many?
Well, no, you just told me.
All right.
Thank you.
questions from our attorney
not at this time
questions or comments from the virtual audience
I'm sorry
Chairman Brickman
I had a hard time unmuting myself
could you just for the record
state your name and spell for the sonographer
yes my name is Sloan
S-L-O-A-N-E, F-S-L-O-L-K-S, representing the Office of the Council member of Ketze Lazano.
Right. Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir, I do. Thank you very much.
Yes, we after reviewing the testimony of the RCO and then separately going out and meeting with local.
of the RCO and then separately going out and meeting with local residents and near residents
regarding this application and finding that, you know, the, the, the, the community was in
support of the, uh, opening of the restaurant. Uh, the council member has no opposition to,
uh, the appellant's application. Thank you. Thank you, Sloan. Thanks for calling in. Is
there anyone else in the virtual audience? Great, Chair. This is Jason Handel. I'll be
stepping in temporarily i do not see any further hands okay planning commission thank you chair
bergman and good morning david vecto with the city planning commission chairman and board members
the comprehensive plan recommends no change to the cmx1 commercial mixed use zoning at this location
the city rezoned this neighborhood in 1974 and a council supported map change the proposed use
is consistent with the character of the surrounding area which hosts several other takeout restaurants
the city planning commission recommends that the board grant the requested use variants for a
takeout restaurant thank you mi 2024 007 311 60 49 castor avenue i vote yes proviso hours of
operation 7a to 3p michael johns my sorry mr chair is that seven days a week it is seven days a week
thank you my vote is yes with proviso cheryl gaston my vote is yes with proviso tenetta
Graham, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Ryan McAdams, my vote is yes with Proviso.
Sen, could you please stay on?
All right, so we're going to move to number 13, MI-2025-002-813-6426, Castorapta.
There is a request for continuance from Community on the Rise.
Currently, they are in unanimous opposition of this.
what we want to do is we want to hear the case and if we can vote if not we're going to hold for
the community okay sure so um could you identify your client yes so my client is uh jimmy uh man
tom a tenant to the property all right um and our vice chair has a few questions
good uh morning again um have you uh emailed your documents five days in advance of this hearing
yes we did okay and do you waive the reading of this refusal and simply to its accuracy
i do okay thank you you may proceed with your case thank you uh so good morning again uh members
of the board i'm gonna go ahead and put up the documents we submitted to the zoning board on the
screen. Can the board see my screen on there? We can, sir. Thank you. So this is an application
for use of the space as a personal service. There is some history with this property,
which is worth noting because this exact application, this exact business actually
was approved by Variance back in 2020.
At the time, it was approved for three years,
temporary, to expire.
The owner of the business, at some point in 2024,
I believe, changed hands to the current operator
without changing the business.
The business has stayed the same throughout the time.
They, however, did not realize
that their zoning permit had expired until more recently,
And that is why we're before the board with this particular application again.
And this is, again, the same application for the same business that was operating since the original approval in 2021, because 2020, due to the pandemic, they actually didn't open for some time.
The reason this use is refused is because this zoning, this property is kind of unique in that it is partially CMX2 and partially RSA5.
And I would note that the proposed use is prohibited in the residential part of the property districting because it's kind of a divided zoning and the most restrictive zoning would apply.
So we met with the community and presented this matter.
They actually stopped by the business.
The community came by and did a walkthrough of the business.
And then we had the open meeting.
The hours of operation, admittedly, is longer than what was originally agreed to in the original temporary variants.
Again, the current operators have been working their business a little bit longer hours due to the demand.
working their business a little bit longer hours due to the demand.
There are some L&I violations relating to a certificate for fire alarm system.
And the license and inspections officer also indicated that there's a shower in the building
and they raised the question about why is there a shower in the building.
Those violations, actually, there was signage for fire, fire alarm certification, the zoning itself, and a extension cord that they asked to be removed.
So those were the primary violations.
And there was concern that with the shower and the way that business is structured, that people may be sleeping overnight instead of going home after work.
So that was something that was raised by the license and inspections inspector.
Now, before we went to the community meeting, we were asked to actually go and obtain a petition in support of the neighbors that was requested by the community and was performed by my office.
And we actually reached out to the neighbors on the block, including some of the businesses that are right next to the existing business who signed off.
I believe this particular one is a restaurant.
This is also likely a restaurant that's one is across the street, one is next door.
So these businesses, the owners are well aware of the operation.
They have no problem with the business being there for the past five, six years.
And there are residents in the area that also signed that had no issues with the business operations.
I'm not sure why the community decided to ask for continuance.
At the meeting, we weren't asked or told.
I was not told about any concerns that would lead to a continuance.
But obviously, their letter raises that particular concern.
this is photograph of the space and this is the plan layout so there's foot massage
chairs in the front I'm going to go ahead and zoom in a little bit because it's a little hard to
so this is the waiting area foot massage area and then the rest of the space has massage rooms
with the there's an exit to the back so actually there's a parking lot a large parking lot behind
this property which runs the property again runs all the way through and I believe it's the parking
lot area that is zoned RSA 5 in the zoning which led to the refusal based on the residential zoning
The portion that the actual business is located in is zone CMX2, to my knowledge.
So that is why we're before the board today.
It's essentially that this business has been started back in 2020 through a variance with the community.
They asked for temporary to make sure there won't be any issues with the business that would cause them to change their mind.
The current community group that we met with is a different, it's a different set of members
and different group than the original group who are no longer active.
So again, we did a petition based on their request.
We met with them and we allowed them also to do a site visit, all for the purpose of
showing that this is the same business that really has been there for the past five, six
years.
So what we're essentially asking the board to do is to extend that prior approval. I can show that this was the approval that was granted back in 2020, and at the time it was granted again temporary three-year to expire.
And that's essentially the cause of the reapplication that is before the board today.
So at the time, it was Oxford Circle Civic that was involved.
And they are the ones that supported us at that time for the temporary variance.
And this is the current owner is the same business doing the same name.
same type of business. The landowner is still Tommy Castor, LLC. So there is a lease
with my client ongoing. The other thing that is rather confusing to me on the letter itself was
uh, was the, uh, the vote, uh, the, it seems to me that the vote was support for the attendees.
the vote.
Um, and then it was later said that it was opposed by the attendees. So it's little,
um, little confusing, but that that's really where I'm at with this case is that we had,
um, we're basically asking the board to extend an existing business
to permit them to continue to operate in that location.
That concludes my testimony, and I'm happy to try to answer any questions.
I do believe...
Where's your client?
Has your client here?
I don't believe my client is here today.
He actually was traveling, and I was advised that he would not be available today.
Questions from the board.
As a point of clarification, I believe the owner has changed as well.
Yeah, I see the owners has one in California, the same thing.
No, the business owner, yes.
The business owner, Jimmy, has another operation before in California.
And that's his prior operation.
Questions from the board?
Yep, I have a question.
So I don't know if we can get the answer without the owner being here,
but could you go back to the drawings?
you said there was a shower that was there
has the shower been removed or if not do we know what the
purpose of the shower is since it was suspected that
overnight guests were there. So the let me get to the
plan. So that was put in with the
original build out of the space and I believe
i believe it's right here is what it's it's in the bathroom there's a shower and there's cow space
um it looks like it says shower room it's called out a shower room yeah let me um